1. Field of the Invention
This application relates generally to viewing medical images and, more specifically, to a method and apparatus for locally retrieving a medical image stored in a proprietary format and converting that medical image into an image that is compliant with a medical imaging standard.
2. Description of Related Art
During a surgical or other medical procedure the treating physician will often wish to review medical images taken of the patient. For instance, a physician may wish to view an x-ray or ultrasound of the patient on a video monitor hanging in the operating room while performing a surgical procedure. The x-ray or ultrasound images may show the medical condition of the patient being addressed during the surgical procedure, may show neighboring organs that the physician must avoid during the surgical procedure, or any other medical images of interest to a physician conducting a surgical procedure. However, in some cases the medical images the physician may wish to view are stored in a proprietary format on a CD, DVD, portable USB drive, or other portable computer-readable medium.
Conventionally, to view medical images stored on a portable computer-readable medium in an operating room, the CD or other medium is taken to a radiology workstation at a remote location from the operating room. The CD is loaded into the radiology workstation and the proprietary medical images are viewed from the CD using a proprietary viewer and exported in a standard medical image format. In order for the medical images to be preserved with the highest possible quality, and to facilitate standardized storage of medical images, the medical images are stored to a picture archiving and communication system (“PACS”) in a Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (“DICOM”) format. Once the medical images are stored in the PACS, they can be retrieved over a local network from the PACS to be displayed on the video monitor in the operating room.
However, if there are several medical images stored on the CD, a significant amount of time is required for the user of the radiology workstation to individually select each medical image from the CD, export them into the DICOM format, and then store those converted medical images in the PACS. Such a method of exporting the medical images using a specially-programmed workstation at a remote location before being able to view the medical images in the operating room is complex and time consuming. And due to the many different proprietary viewers required for viewing and exporting proprietary medical images stored on the CD, the user of the radiology workstation is required to have at least a minimal amount of familiarity with each.